The first ever detailed study on health and medical tourism in Australia,’ Health tourism in Australia: supply, demand and opportunities” has been published by the government funded Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre. This technical report presents a robust understanding of health and wellness tourism in Australia, and to a much lesser extent, medical tourism. It provides information and outcomes relevant for future development of the wellness and medical tourism industries in Australia.
Tag Archive: Medical Treatment
Laparoscopic gastric banding in India is offered at different health care centers of Chennai, Goa and Mumbai with most advanced technology and modern treatment facilities.
With the threat of individual health insurance plans in California potentially being kicked out of the state for possible non-compliance with the state laws, some people with individual health insurance policies are probably holding their breath in hopes to have reasonably priced health insurance that will still cover them.
Medical Tourism or “Medtravel” can mean many different things depending on the perspective of the viewer. To most it means being able to afford or be in a shorter Que for a medical procedure or treatment that the patient may not of been able to obtain otherwise or by other means.
However from the viewpoint of those providing the service it may be a very different matter and see it in a different light. It may be a glamor job for them – away from more mundane work and toiling “in the fields”. In India it may mean a quick escape from the clutches and restraints of the caste system , the opportunities of which simply were not available in any manner or means to their parents and certainly not their grandparents. Not to say in any manner that this is wrong. If the service is provided – as described and at standards promised and agreed and within acceptability ratings as compared to medical treatment “back home”, then all is ok.
Take for example the description below of a medical travel facility in the eyes of the local providers. You might think that the patients are simply going on one big vacation or holiday regardless of the severity or seriousness of their illness and extent of treatment.
In the southwest section of India you’ll find the state of Kerala. The area has long been known as the “God’s own country” and it is famous amongst locals and tourists for a variety of reasons. Some enjoy the backwaters and others the beaches. Those interested in Ayurveda and other forms of health care, however, will be incredibly interested in the medical tourism industry that continues to grow in Kerala.
What is Medical Tourism?
The term “medical tourism” isn’t as luxurious as you might at first believe. While some people associate tourism with “vacations” and “trips” the term actually applies to individuals who travel to foreign countries to obtain health care that is either not available or unaffordable in their own country.
There are several different reasons to use medical tourism in order to obtain health care. Some people, especially celebrities, prefer to have cosmetic surgeries done far from home because they want to be out of the public spotlight while they recover. In other case, some patients may find alternative treatments being utilized in other countries that are not available in their home country. In many cases, the main reason for participating in medical tourism is cost.
Individuals have traveled across international borders for joint replacement, dental work, psychological care, and even hospice treatments. Just about every area of the medical profession welcomes medical tourism in some country. Today there are approximately 50 countries around the globe who participate in medical tourism.
The Risks Associated with Medical Tourism
Those who decide to participate in medical tourism are taking quite a few risks. It is important to realize that the culture in every country is different. The natural immunity you have built up towards diseases in your home country may not protect you from foreign diseases in the place you visit. You’re opening yourself up to infection not only from your procedure, but from amoebic dysentery, paratyphoid, tuberculosis, HIV, and even hepatitis.
One of the reasons people flock towards medical tourism is because the costs associated with care in other countries are often much less than the cost of care in their own homes. For example, the cost of healthcare in the United States is so expensive because it is heavily regulated by government agencies who are concerned with quality control. If the doctor makes a mistake in a foreign country you may have no recourse and, even if you did sue, the doctor is not very likely to pay you.
Ethical issues may arise as well. In some countries, such as Thailand, doctors are so focused on foreign travelers (who pay more) that they have less time for local Thai patients who urgently need their care.
Medical Tourism in Kerala
The Indian state of Kerala focuses on Ayurveda as its traditional medicinal system and is heavily promoted as a medical tourism destination because of these classical treatments. That’s not to say that Kerala is solely focused on Ayurveda, though. The state prides itself on having highly trained doctors from all areas of the medical profession and is believed to have some of the finest medical facilities in the world.
Indian doctors have gained recognition around the world. They’re known for being very skilled and caring and several of the finest Indian doctors return to India after touring and training abroad. The Indian medical system also includes world-class pre- and post-operative care – meaning you won’t be rushed out of your hospital bed because of corporate or bureaucratic red tape.
The types of medical care available in Kerala include:
Ayurveda
Cardiac
Dental
Transplant Surgery
Ophthalmology
Orthopedic
Neurosurgery
Fertility Treatment
General Surgery, and
Other alternative practices (naturopathy, Siddha, etc)
Kerala is popular amongst medical tourists for a number of reasons. Aside from providing high-quality medical care for low prices, the area is relatively easy to access and boasts a temperate climate year round. Visitors will be able to communicate easily with their doctors and the public and will have the finest amenities available, both in the hospital and in their hotels.
http://blog.ratestogo.com/medical-tourism-kerala/
Medical tourism is, of course, not something that should be taken lightly – whether you plan to travel to Kerala or some other country. Make sure you conduct thorough research before deciding to take a trip overseas for a procedure you could have had done back home. Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
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With the Democrats getting slaughtered — or should I say, “receiving mandatory end-of-life counseling” — in the debate over national health care, the Obama administration has decided to change the subject by indicting CIA interrogators for talking tough to three of the world’s leading Muslim terrorists.
Had I been asked, I would have advised them against reinforcing the idea that Democrats are hysterical bed-wetters who can’t be trusted with national defense while also reminding people of the one thing everyone still admires about President George W. Bush.
But I guess the Democrats really want to change the subject. Thus, here is Part 2 in our series of liberal lies about national health care.
(6) There will be no rationing under national health care.
Anyone who says that is a liar. And all Democrats are saying it. (Hey, look — I have two-thirds of a syllogism!)
Apparently, promising to cut costs by having a panel of Washington bureaucrats (for short, “The Death Panel”) deny medical treatment wasn’t a popular idea with most Americans. So liberals started claiming that they are going to cover an additional 47 million uninsured Americans and cut costs … without ever denying a single medical treatment!
Also on the agenda is a delicious all-you-can-eat chocolate cake that will actually help you lose weight! But first, let’s go over the specs for my perpetual motion machine — and it uses no energy, so it’s totally green!
For you newcomers to planet Earth, everything that does not exist in infinite supply is rationed. In a free society, people are allowed to make their own rationing choices.
Some people get new computers every year; some every five years. Some White House employees get new computers and then vandalize them on the way out the door when their candidate loses. (These are the same people who will be making decisions about your health care.)
Similarly, one person might say, “I want to live it up and spend freely now! No one lives forever.” (That person is a Democrat.) And another might say, “I don’t go to restaurants, I don’t go to the theater, and I don’t buy expensive designer clothes because I’ve decided to pour all my money into my health.”
Under national health care, you’ll have no choice about how to ration your own health care. If your neighbor isn’t entitled to a hip replacement, then neither are you. At least that’s how the plan was explained to me by our next surgeon general, Dr. Conrad Murray.
(7) National health care will reduce costs.
This claim comes from the same government that gave us the $500 hammer, the $1,200 toilet seat and postage stamps that increase in price every three weeks.
The last time liberals decided an industry was so important that the government needed to step in and contain costs was when they set their sights on the oil industry. Liberals in both the U.S. and Canada — presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter and Canadian P.M. Pierre Trudeau — imposed price controls on oil.
As night leads to day, price controls led to reduced oil production, which led to oil shortages, skyrocketing prices for gasoline, rationing schemes and long angry lines at gas stations.
You may recall this era as “the Carter years.”
Then, the white knight Ronald Reagan became president and immediately deregulated oil prices. The magic of the free market — aka the “profit motive” — produced surges in oil exploration and development, causing prices to plummet. Prices collapsed and remained low for the next 20 years, helping to fuel the greatest economic expansion in our nation’s history.
You may recall this era as “the Reagan years.”
Freedom not only allows you to make your own rationing choices, but also produces vastly more products and services at cheap prices, so less rationing is necessary.
(8) National health care won’t cover abortions.
There are three certainties in life: (a) death, (b) taxes, and (C) no health care bill supported by Nita Lowey and Rosa DeLauro and signed by Barack Obama could possibly fail to cover abortions.
I don’t think that requires elaboration, but here it is:
Despite being a thousand pages long, the health care bills passing through Congress are strikingly nonspecific. (Also, in a thousand pages, Democrats weren’t able to squeeze in one paragraph on tort reform. Perhaps they were trying to save paper.)
These are Trojan Horse bills. Of course, they don’t include the words “abortion,” “death panels” or “three-year waits for hip-replacement surgery.”
That proves nothing — the bills set up unaccountable, unelected federal commissions to fill in the horrible details. Notably, the Democrats rejected an amendment to the bill that would specifically deny coverage for abortions.
After the bill is passed, the Federal Health Commission will find that abortion is covered, pro-lifers will sue, and a court will say it’s within the regulatory authority of the health commission to require coverage for abortions.
Then we’ll watch a parade of senators and congressmen indignantly announcing, “Well, I’m pro-life, and if I had had any idea this bill would cover abortions, I never would have voted for it!”
No wonder Democrats want to remind us that they can’t be trusted with foreign policy. They want us to forget that they can’t be trusted with domestic policy.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/coulter082709.php3?printer_friendly
Patients can save as much as 80 percent on procedures done by medical professionals often educated and trained in the United States at hospitals increasingly accredited for meeting U.S.-like standards.
An estimated 150,000 people traveled abroad last year for medical treatment, and the number is expected to double by 2010, said Josef Woodman, author of “Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody’s Guide to Affordable, World-class Medical Tourism.” Nearly half had medically necessary surgeries, such as hip replacements or spinal work, heart surgeries, even cancer treatment.
The book, released in March, tells how patients can save 25 percent to 75 percent on anything from LASIK eye repair to neurosurgery by traveling outside the United States.
Health-industry representatives said U.S. healthcare costs more, in part, because of skyrocketing medical-malpractice insurance and the higher wages and benefits paid to hospital workers.
Costs are high, said Woodman in a telephone interview, “because Americans demand from cradle to grave the most expensive treatment, the most extensive testing.”
He said the American healthcare system is “stuck” because insurance companies are dictating what can and can’t be covered, and consumers are unable to negotiate direct payment to providers.
A longtime surgeon and clinical professor for UC San Francisco’s Fresno-based medical education program, said that while he has been all over the world and knows there is great medical care available, he advises caution.
He said there are also plenty of Third World countries with hospitals and doctors that don’t meet U.S. guidelines and restrictions but offer huge discounts. Hospitals here have to meet certain standards, he said.
Those who choose to go abroad? “I think it is probably dangerous, and you are probably taking a risk with your life. I think you should find a way to get it done at the good hospitals in town,” Parks said.
Woodman has traveled abroad for his own care. He went to Costa Rica for dental work — a root canal, implants and follow-up care — after looking at several other countries. He said he saved about $2,000.
The key to a good experience, he said, is to do your homework, find out about the doctors, try to interview them beforehand, and then ask about success rates and find out about the facility. “If they don’t speak English, then move on.”
Interest in traveling abroad for medical treatment has spawned a new industry: medical tourism. Companies are playing the role of travel agent and medical-care coordinator and linking American patients with overseas hospitals for a fee.
Medical Solution
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It is an interesting point or points of view or what might call perspectives.
Medical tourism or “medtravel” or “medical tourism / medtravel” often is not most times refers to people , patients or their families traveling to far off , what were once backward third world places , to get medical treatment or medical treatments which they either cannot afford to get “back home” or are too far down the list or que.
Medical tourism can now refer to medical treatment in the good old USA.
It is now accident that often the most wealthy and powerful come to the US for treatment.
The choice of oil rich sheiks , with no shortage of cash and money to burn , – ever, used to be “private British ” health care clinic or private British hospitals. It was closer and more familiar to the colonial past . However , or in spite of this many of the wealthiest people in the world now routinely , as a matter of course , to American hospitals for their medical care – be it John Hopkins , the Mayo Clinic , Sloane-Kettering or a myriad of others.
In addition to that many who holiday in the US – say for warmer Florida in the winter are already there , so to speak. Travel costs are already covered , as well as a stay away from home in nice surroundings. Even friends or family can visit for a stay – and have minimal costs . Hence these areas , Florida included , have incurred a resulting boom in medical care to those who are not their direct population and citizenry.
These too can be termed “medical tourism” or medical tourism medtravel even home in the USA.
Medical Tourism: World-class Medical Care at Affordable Rates … – Well-trained and experienced doctors, state of art medical facilities and personalized care have helped India to register the fastest growth rate in this Industry. The number of patients seeking treatment in India has gone up from 10000 …
Florida’s Tourism Addiction | Newgeography.com – Growth in medical research is already happening with the arrival of the Nemours Center for Pediatric Research. Both of these are happening because of internal decisions, windows of opportunity, and with mostly private, …
Kerala Medical Tourism – The government’s initiative to combine tourism along with medical practices at a cost which is comparatively very low as compared to U.S. or U. K , has contributed to the rapid growth of medical tourism in the state. …
One concern regarding what is called “medical tourism” or alternatively “medtravel” is the cost of medical complications.
Complications can occur following any medical treatment , treatments or procedures. It is of course a matter of numbers and stats. It is not only nosocomial or hospital borne infections that are of issue here. Complications resulting from medical treatments and therapies do occur on a predictable basis. Nosocomial infections just by themselves are estimated at a rate of 5 to 10 % of therapies and treatments. With enough time and patients medical complications do occur in some treated patients. It is not unlike the computer information technologies adage concerning replacements of hard drives and a regime of data backups. It is not a matter of if it is a certainty. It is a question of when.
To this purpose it is first of all important to choose a reputable overseas medical facility with not only a good record , but good access for communication and at least some overseas ( in the industrialized world ) trained specialist medical and support staff.
This way if problems do occur quick and effective two way communications can be afforded.
Travel Medical Insurance – Don’t leave without it! – Travel Medical Insurance is a bright idea for the many travel savvy and not travelers today. We have all heard the stories of being in a foreign country, getting sick and it costing hundreds of dollars. There is no excuse for this. …
http://med-travel.livejournal.com/ – URL: http://med-travel.livejournal.com/ ????????:. ??????????? ?????.?????.
Cruise around the med+ Travel Insurance? – I will be going on a cruise around the med, towards the end of july and was wondering if this counts as a Annual multi-trip travel or a Single trip…and so which insurance should I apply for. WE cruised the Med a couple years ago and the …
Jul og nytår under palmerne – Jul og nytår på Phuket. Mange har i år valgt at holde jul og nytår på Phuket, og netop juleaftensdag og nytårsaftensdag er der billige rejser fra København. Bravo Tours flyver direkte til det thailandske ferieparadis fra både Billund og …
Er hasard med eget liv å sove for lite! – Prøver selv etter beste evne å få nok søvn, men med travel hverdag er det dessverre ikke så ofte jeg får det jeg trenger av søvn. Vi bør vel forsøke særlig nå i romjula å ligge å sove lenge og drite i å stå opp før vi er helt utsovet. …
Börja planera din semester i Grekland – 2009 har kommit. Och definitivt du har uppsatta mål för det nya året. Mål som rör ditt arbete, familj, relationer, vänner. Alla de saker du vill uppnå under detta år kan tyckas lite stressigt. All planering och hårt arbete kan tire du …
» [Quick Take] Interview with Broughan Gorey, CEO of Concierge … – As the name implies, Concierge MedTravel is a medical travel service. Concierge arranges appointments, international travel, transportation, hotel and hospital accommodations for clients. The company caters to men in need of a minimally …
Hvordan bestille deg billige flybilletter på internett – Her gir vi deg her et godt bud på hvordan du finner billigste flyreiser. * Bestill billett på Internett – Det er ofte mye penger å spare her, fordi det gir besparelser for selskapet. * Bruk en av følgende etater eller finne billett …
Check before therapy if your health care medical plan will cover or not cover emergency problems. It is highly unlikely that you will be put on a plane back to the health care facility both from a cost standpoint and logistical standpoint – you will hardly be in a state to travel.
If you are actually being sent by your medical health care insurance plan for quicker or less expensive medical care this should not be an issue – there are legal and insurance concerns here for the carrier. If you are having your travels professionally arranged – then the agency or service may arrange at home complication follow up care as a matter of course and procedure. Lastly if you are being covered by yourself check ahead of time if your health care insurance carrier will cover this care if need be or will call it a “pre-existing condition ” of sorts and not their direct responsibility . If you are self insuring through your own resources make sure that you have not stretched out your financial resources to the hilt and have no financial or medical backup what so ever.
Medical Tourism Medical Tourism
It may seem to be an odd concern in relation to travel of the question of how your travel insurance does or does not protect you in the case of terror and terror attacks.
It can be said that overall your chances of being affected by a terror or terrorism attack are remote. This is true. However there may be additional effects of a terrorism attack not only on the direct victims but on travelers who are in the country of the place of attack or even other countries.
You, your travel companions or even the country that has the attack may not directly lie in your path. Yet your trip either at the point of destination or even way by points may be directly affected. You need not have been in Mumbai or even India itself to have had your travel plans greatly affected.
For example your medical treatment may have been assigned a certain date and yet due to the attacks you find that all air travel are grounded.
Does your travel insurance cover such for events for cancellations or delays? Are additional hotel and travel costs covered? Will any replacement travel fares or future trips for this purpose assigned covered or will it all come under the clauses of “not covered due to acts of war or terrorism “or some other “acts of …” coverage.